Free Keene's Bitcoin Vending Machine Anniversary

On November 5, 2015, the Shire Free Church located in Keene celebrated the well-known New Hampshire Bitcoin Vending Machine’s (BVM) one year anniversary. Free Keene is a libertarian based group that resides in the state of New Hampshire. The organization participates in regular activism, and its mission is to recruit more anarcho-capitalist like-minded people. The city is just one of the anti-government hubs located in the state with the Free State Project (FSP) philosophy in mind. Many members of Free Keene and FSP believe in free markets coupled with sound economics. This in turn has produced a lot of Bitcoin trade and commerce throughout the region.

Free Keene activists are looking to create a voluntary society without the use of force and coercion like the many governments who rule this world. To achieve a true free state, members of this NH counter-culture believe in “using peaceful, market-based actions.”

A small group started the migration to Keene, New Hampshire in alliance with the ideals of the FSP movement. The epicenter of Keene called the Shire is now a lively group of people who share anti-state ideas, and participate in activism like jury nullification and ‘Robin Hooding.’ Free Keene activists feel that if “you are a longtime liberty-lover or new to the ideas of freedom,” the Shire region is the perfect place to congregate.

People who’ve migrated to the Keene region for more liberty and freedom have also brought with them their favorite digital currency. The Shire’s Lamassu Bitcoin Vending Machine, brought into the city by FSP early movers, provided the residents of Keene with full access to Bitcoin in the area. They say that customers using the machine have ranged from young and old with the BVM being available to everyone. Not only are they coming from the free-state area but also ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI, and NY. The group has noticed a substantial influx of people coming to the region from the heavily Bitcoin regulated state of New York, as it has “cracked down on the bitcoin industry there” the Free Keene website states. As a resident of Boston, this journalist can tell you that all of the machines in my city are currently inoperable and a few drive to Keene to acquire bitcoin there.

The original unit located at 101 Deals thrift store in Keene at 661 Marlboro St. was a Skyhook brand machine. However, it was replaced by the Lamassu machine and is now used for special events like PorcFest. Free Keene.com says it is important to note the BVM is not an ATM, and many obfuscate the two as they operate differently. Unlike most Bitcoin machines that make buys using an exchange the machine is pre-stocked with an amount of bitcoins, this device requires no identification. The group says that, as a customer of the church, “your privacy is respected.”

It seems Free Keene advocates are fond of Bitcoin and want to spread its use around the New England region. Bitcoin, to many who live there, acts as the counter economic tool in a world filled with force and coercion. Dollar bills and government-issued fiat money has been known for years to fund violence and corruption. The idea is to use alternatives like precious metals and cryptocurrency to starve the state of its means to create havoc.

Those who reside in the region of Keene think that these ideas like decentralized money will indeed choke the beast and will act as a tool to bring true free market capitalism to the people. The celebration of the one-year existence of their BVM is applauded by us here at Bitcoin.com. We wish the residents of Keene much prosperity in teaching the ways of liberty and freedom. Concepts like Bitcoin and the technology that surrounds this protocol means we are one step closer to achieving Laissez-faire and a stateless society.

What do you think of Keene’s Bitcoin Enthusiasm and BVM? Let us know in the comments below!

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Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source code, and decentralized applications. Redman has written thousands of articles for news.Bitcoin.com about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

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